In cutting a sheet-like material, there is a need to provide edge guiding and aligning means therefore. A plate-like stop means, commonly called a fence has long been used for such purposes.
However, at high cutting rates with self-feeding cutting devices particularly for plaster board gypsum board, and the like, excessive friction develops between the edge of such a sheet material and a prior art fence that serious retardation in cutting rates can be observed.
Apparatus is therefore needed in the fence art which will reduce and preferably substantially eliminate much of the friction previously found to occur between the solid edge guiding surface of a prior art fence and the contacting edge portions of a sheet material being cut or otherwise being operated upon.
Moreover, such a friction-free fence device needs to be adjustable as regards to its location on the working surface particularly relative to a cutting device associated with such surface. At the same time, such fence device must be rigidly clampable when in a desired location on the working surface so as to permit accurate cutting to be achievable. Such adjustably clampable, friction-free fence devices, and particularly integrated combinations of such a fence device with a working table that is itself associable in a precise manner with a working surface and a cutting device of predetermined type evidently have not been heretofore available in this art. Such apparatus, if available, would have great practical value in the cutting of sheet materials, particularly large size sheet materials such as are available commercially for use in various construction applications.